"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better."
- John Ruskin 1819-1900

Founded in 1956, three years prior to Alaska statehood, Alaska Maritime Agencies serves owners and operators of cargo and passenger vessels calling at any point along the 47,000 miles of Alaskan coastline. With operating offices located at Anchorage, Kenai, Seward, Valdez, Dutch Harbor, and Ketchikan, Alaska Maritime employs about 35 full time staff plus various resident agents. The Seattle headquarters for Alaska Maritime Agencies houses management, accounting and documentation departments. Although commercial documentation for our Alaska ships can be done at any of our offices nationwide, most Bills of Lading are cut in our Seattle office for the convenience of Seattle based shippers.

Since the export of natural resources is the prime mover of cargo in Alaska, our agents are very familiar with a variety of cargo and vessel types. These include bulk carriers transporting urea, coal, zinc and lead concentrates; reefer vessels carrying seafood; tankers carrying crude oil, refined product, ammonia and LNG and log ships carrying round logs and lumber. As the importance of tourism to the Alaskan economy has increased over the years, so too has our involvement with the passenger cruise ship industry. As such, Alaska Maritime is well diversified and a major participant in the Alaskan shipping industry.